Our World: In sickness and in health

Patients and family will tell you it's always so much more than cancer.

It goes beyond the diagnosis, beyond the new physical realities. Cancer affects the ability to function effectively on a day-to-day basis and one's inner sense of well-being. It's physically, mentally and fiscally draining with patient and partner suffering equally.

So it was for Bill and Judy Keller. Judy battled breast cancer for five years before she passed away on August 14, 2008.

There were shiny, good days for Bill and Judy, husband and wife for 42 years. The good days brought laughter, sharing and love. The bad days were filled with endless doctor's visits, pain and the sickness associated with treatment.

"She had a sense of humor and a dry determination to beat it," Bill says. "She wanted to be an inspiration to others and she was an inspiration to other."

Judy fought through the chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries and a regime of 14 pills a day as best she could. Bill battled to maintain a sense of normalcy, to help Judy in whatever way he could, and eventually, to manage the finances. Judy had stopped working immediately after being diagnosed and the couple emptied most of their savings and 401K retirement plans throughout the treatment. Bill stopped working to provide full-time care for Judy in the last two years. It was, by all accounts, a multi-faceted disaster for the couple who had been through the good and bad associated with decades of marriage.

A chance encounter led Sandy Zinschlag and the non-profit group L.I.G.H.T. of Southwest Florida to step in and provide help. "It was financial relief for an already stressful situation," says Bill, who had a stack of 2008 bills thicker than two bibles.

Because Judy had health insurance, most charitable organizations wouldn't consider her as a candidate. Judy became the first cancer patient to benefit from L.I.G.H.T., or long-term impact through the gift of hope and treatment. Zinschlag also asked Judy to speak to others.

"They stepped in and really helped out when we needed it," Bill says. The organization provided financial and administrative assistance to help cover medical expenses.

And while the group can't bring his wife back or solve all the financial issues, Bill Keller isn't bitter. "We had all this time. I can't feel anger, I don't feel robbed."

The hardest part for Bill is the grief. "Without love, there's no grief," he says. "The grief is the difficult part now."